THIS BLOG POST IS NOT ABOUT ME OR EDITORS PICKS OR MY BAD GRAMMAR OR ANY OF THAT SHIT!! I CAN TRULY GIVE A FLYING WALENDA ABOUT ANY THAT. IT'S ABOUT THE FUTURE OF MUSIC. SO I HOPE SOME OF YOU HERE HIT SOME OF THE LINKS ALONG THE WAY AND CHECK THIS STORY OUT.

Recently I found out that The university of San Fransisco sold what you can call an institution in that area, a collage radio station called KUSF. A station that for more than 30 years has been a major force in propelling many popular bands to stardom. Bands Like The Red Hot Chili Peppers , Nirvana, The White Stripes, Metallica just to name a few .The powers that be executed this sale in the most underhanded sneaky way cutting them off the air during mid programming giving the Djs and staff no forewarning whatsoever .To add insult to injury they confiscated all there records too.They sold it to make way for the Classical Public Radio Network, owned by the University of Southern California via a deal with Entercom Communications, one of the five largest broadcasting companies in the U.S.

In a covert way more corporate zombie consolidation of the airwaves.

Check this link out for more details

http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/after-three-decades-kusf-goes-air-8139

link to save KUSF

http://www.savekusf.org/

I have to say this story really got to me . The implications of sales like this are immense in many ways affecting art, creative music, culture and progress itself . I have been listening to college radio for more than 23 years, possibly as long as some of the people vehemently protesting this sale have been alive.

So I want to go back .

It was about 1987 I was sitting in my room probably jamming on guitar 17 or so and I remember at the time being board with the music I was listening to . It was mostly Classic Rock Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac ex. I had gone through a big Progressive Rock phase in the early 80s with bands like Rush, Kansas, Yes, Genius, Jethro Tull , bands I still respect to this day .I was raised with allot of Jazz in our houshold with my dad being a Jazz drummer stuff  like Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock ex. and as a musician myself I was naturally drawn to bands with let's say a elevated musicianship, but, I knew I had hit a wall musically. There was just no energy left for me in this music, no soul, the gas tank was empty. Simply put, It just wasn't reflecting the way I felt inside at the time.

Then I remember this like it was the day before yesterday one night moving the dial on my portable Panasonic radio/cassette player to the left  just browsing sort of tip toeing through the radio frequency tulips.Then I heard it, this sound, barley audible through static, something really neat sounding . It was weird, bizarre " different". I remember quickly honeing in on it fearful that it might get away. It finally came in clearly .

This strange sound that I heard was... " New."

That one move that night in southern NJ changed my hole musical and life outlook; a move that sill affects me to this day.The station was WLFR from Pomona N.J. I can still remember the jingle doubleU L F RRRRRRR in Pomona!. From there I was exposed to bands and sounds that I never heard before. Off the wall sounds, from bands like the Red Hot Chilie Peppers, Sonic youth, X ray specs, B52s, Dead Kennedy's , Black Flag, Nina Hagen and so many more that I failed to jot down as mixes where  being played. It was wild and untamed. I can still remember head banging to the Chili Peppers "No chump love sucker" and it wasn't just the music. The frequency medium itself sounded raw and dangerous like it was being broadcast from the inside of an Eastern Bloc bomb shelter. It was so colorfully romantic to my ears and it opened up a treasure chest of material, not just sounds but attitude and dress as we'll. It was the sound track of my life, my life's track in stereo sound that came to define me and fill that emptiness I felt in so many ways. It was the Punk Rock experience that so many people had gone through before. This of course was sort of late in the game from the first wave in the 70s early 80s. I would say pre Guns and Roses, Jane's Addiction, but from that moment on I was hooked . I listened as often as possible. I remember I had to fix the antenna just right on my radio to get it in clearly. I started to make cassette tapes of the shows. I still have a few of them, and it wasn't just PUNK or "Alternative " a word I don't think was even being used yet. I heard "Rap or Hip-Hop. Public Enemy, Eric B and Rakim, Ice -T , The Ultramagnetics with driving Rhythms and fierce lyrics from the street just kickin your ass as we'll as other forms of music Jazz fusion ex.. It was all cutting edge no where being played on commercial radio. And it was amazing.

 Eventually time changed as time does and I moved away from the WLFR air space to places south in the country. Florida a stint in Seattle but through out this time I  new that if you turned left on the radio dial more than likely you would find something new and different being played at a university somewhere.

So time passed and in the wake of my first contact with collage radio musical movement's occurred.The Lollaplooza festival was one where great bands like , Henry Rollins, Sound Garden, Janes Addiction, Fishbone, lush, Primus, Nine inch nails, The Red Hot Chille Peppers, Sonic Youth, all raged with a feeling of new expression, all emerging from an earlier time that in my opinion had it's core push placed back in the humble studios where kids in university's had no strangle hold on their freedom to play what they wanted and had the guts to play these bands when they weren't so popular. I would venture to say even Nirvana was being played on college Radio way before "Smells like Teen Spirit" was a twinkle in Kurt Cobains draws. 

Saw the first 3 Lollaploozas and one Bummpershoot the year of  WTO riots in Seattle.

Actually the first Lollaplooza I was outside couldn't afford it . It was held in Orlando Fl.1991. I thought about possibly doing a 007 and trying to sneak in from the back. It never happened, but I did hear Henry screaming through an array of wall amps and lighting frames lol.

 Bumbershoot 1999

During this period from about 1991 to 2007 I was into allot of everything some Cajun, Hip- Hop, bluegrass, Classical , Jazz, Early music, Metal, Tool, 80s Pop, New Wave, Zydeco, Jungle, African music, Punk "Alternative" a word that by this time for better or worse really caught on in the main stream. I even returned back to rediscover some of the classic Rock bands now with a greater appreciation for the excellent song writers they where. 

  life often goes in circles .

There was really no one Radio station I followed during this time period except occasionally wnsc UFC  and "Coast to Coast" with George Noory.

  Another great radio show, and story.

Fast forward:

 I find myself back home in N.J. after being away for 16 years. It's around 2007/8 and I'm now 38ish. I transfer from Fl. to N.J. with a job delivering medication for money so I'm on the road pretty much all day and radio is my preferred form of entertainment. I go years pretty much just moving from one station to the next not really making any one favorite . Though I do find few like like 90. 3 KEXP out of Seattle simulcasting into N.Y. a really good station playing new music. When I'm in the Philly area I find myself listening to 91.7 WKDU, out in the Leigh Vally I gravitate towrds 90.3 WXLV Fm with "Reenie's Adventures in Radio" Show Schedule for 90.3 The X  all great college stations left of the dial.

There's another one though, that for reasons evade me now that took awhile for me to catch on to . I didn't  make a mental note of the name for sometime. I just categorize it in my mind as being the "nutty " station. Where at times it wasn't uncommon to hear the sounds of birds chirping for minutes at a clip or trippy records being played in slow motion during  a Barry White song or some crazy sounding French Punk rock. Sometimes I would find myself "spacing out", just drifting within my imagination let's just say for extended amounts of time from the sound scape certain Djs would create from this station. This went on for awhile until I finally came to know it as being 91.1 WFMU then out of East Orange N.J. currently out of Jersey City N.J.

Thankfully WFMU is independent from there former university Upsala College and are completely publicly financed so it can't be sold out from under them.

more here at the link below

October 17, 2006 at 10:29 AM

http://wfmu.org/

As it became more of a focal point of my interest. I began to learn more about WFMU and I'd say for the last year since there N.Y. City record fair I've been hooked.

I began to learn more about the DJ's and their shows and realized how truly special WMFU is in what they are doing right now for radio and music culture .If you ever wondered what radio would sound like if the Djs were free to express themselves and play what ever they wanted.... BINGO!! that is the reality that is WFMU.  To me it's what a radio station should sound like, alive and exiting. Spawned from collage radio, I believe It's the evolution of college radio or what creative" Free Form Radio" will evolve into in the future. They host live performances and hold interviews with bands and musicians, (a concept that I believe got lost somewhere inside the asshole of MTV a long time ago ).They are a great source of information as far as current event's and music happenings for the greater New York metropolitan area and if you appreciate music and haven't experienced real "Free Form Radio" yet then BY Fuckin Golly Jolly Check em Out!!!. You will not be disappointed. They truly are a diamond shining amidst a heap of music crap .In this age of monotone corporate radio driven dreck, It's very refreshing. 

like a Snickers bar to the ears and a Slurpy for the soul.

Sweet!

Here's a few of my favorites

" Terry Ts Cherry Blossom Clinic"

  The Cherry Blossom Clinic 

A fun filled blast of a show playing old, new punk/glam and more. She really gets you rockin. If you think you've heard Punk before you haven't until you hear her show ... that's all I'm sayin. 

Diane's Kamikaze Fun Machine

With a Heavy Metal shot gun blast to your cranium Diane's Kamikaze fun machine will blow your head off with all types of new and old Metal, Hardcore,Punk and more.

Warning where a Helmet !!!

There's" Talk's Cheap with Jason Sigal

  I personally think this show is one of the most cutting edge things going on right now, not just in radio but in music in general. It's a true delight to hear how this cat Jason weave's mixes together creating incredible tapestries of sound.

Be prepared, at times listening to this show could induce Astral projection, don't say I didn't warn you.  lol

Dark Night of the Soul with Julie 

Let your Imagination run wild through a moonlit dream within the painfully sweet romantic atmosphere Julie creates with her Darkwave show. A show that truly touches me late into the Dark Night of my soul .

Candles and Black Roses suggested.

Beastin' The Airwaves! with Keili"  "Keili Hamilton ... Why you Beastin", and let's not forget her Mama "DJ Mama" who gave birth to the D.J. A fun pair to listen to, spinning  great all ages  music.

  Pseu Braun "Spinning her weirdness on WFMU" with cool music and a great witty sense of humor to boot. Her breaks are just as fun as her music sets .

Put The Needle On The Record with Billy Jam.   

If there's ever going to be a final nail that is driven into the much over due coffin that is main stream hip hop, it will spawn from this show. By Keeping ahead of the  Rap/ Hip - Hop trends Billy Jam is helping to create an atmosphere for the next generation of emerging intelligent, anti bling bling, corporate sell out  RAP artist to thrive.

Watch out for this one.

Liz Berg A masterfully presented musically eclectic show with a bravo to go. 

Liz Bergs show is like hoping on an artists palette with a pogo stick where every new song played is a different color.

A real class act.

All these shows I look forward to hearing throughout the week . All with their own individual and unique personalities and styles of broadcasting. All who have personally enriched my life with new music again even though I know none of them personally .These shows have given my life's experience color, giving me something to look forward to when sometimes there isn't and now once again have become the sound track of my life just as WLFR was for that teenager in his room turning that dial searching for something " New " so long ago.

  This feeling, this rich new and exiting feeling of happiness. The thrill of not knowing what to expect next while listening. The feeling of musical fulfillment , of identifying with radio personalities and their quirks that make that shitty day a little more enjoyable and that good day a little more magical. The sense of community and sharing knowing other people identify with what your hearing. The gift of music itself that in some ethereal circles would say is the essence of life itself.The feeling of being alive .This all ended for the residents of San Fransisco on January 18th when in one cruel dishonest malicious move there radio station KUSF was pulled off the air into a void of static dead silence. For the people of San Francisco this must of been like having your heart pulled out. like ripping a smile from a child's face turning such a beautiful colorful world into a world of negativity and darkness. Making an already hard world to live in that much harder, that much colder,that much sadder. There is no price you can pay to compensate for the feeling that was taken away that day from the community that is KUSF, and for this and for no other reason these crime's of the soul, this thievery of the life experience itself can not go unchecked  and

Will Not!!!

Djs in Exile

below a link to one of Metallicas first demos played on KUSF

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwH5CG-y5ys

  Joey Rammone

   Iggy Pop

Here's some of the DJs and they're years at the station

Stereo Steve - 15

 Carolyn- 20

 Jantine B - 12+

Harry D -  27

A list of some of bands this station help promote by playing  :

Primus, Camper Van Beethoven, Dead Kennedy's, wall of Voodoo, Fear, magazine, soft cell, gang of four, X, Modest mouse, Nirvana, guided by voices, Danzig, Dead can dance, Swans, Metallica, Buzzcocks,Television, Gun club, adolescence, 999, Stranglers, mission of burma, Bau haus, Ramones, Laurie anderson, King crimson, Roxy music, negativland, cake, teardrop explodes, American music club, Minutemen, broun fellinis, Talking heads, tom tom club, Beck, mermen, Grotus, Counting crows, Train, Portishead,The White Stripes, Dino Jr The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and  the list keeps going...

Please watch at least the first minute of this vid before proceeding.

 So the question is:

How many emerging musical movements are we willing to see fail come to fruition ?

How many bands are we willing to unknowingly mute out because of sales like this.

How much artistic expression are we willing to stifle.

I say

Not a GOD DAM ONE!!!

So I fear this troubling trend with every fiber of my being. With more corporate consolidation of the airwaves happening every day more college radio stations being bought out ( WRVU out of Nashville to name another)

I know it's not 1987 and there is the internet and satellite radio, but there's something about the FM frequency that's unmatched in it's delivery.It's organic, more communal, more alive than I- pod drone/podcast self contained digital media. Even when I had Sirius I found myself missing the raw sound play-lists and spontaneity of College radio, and the recent developments concerning net neutrality will soon prove that the internet is not immune from the web of control the Giant corporations are weaving over a free internet.

So this fear is real. You can make the argument that eventually these bands I mentioned might of been discovered without collage radio, but, I'm not so sure that without the freedom theses kids had to play what they wanted without answering to ratings statistics and corporate stock holders that the "Alternative/ Indie" movement would of taken root with the same vibrancy that it did.

That said

 The biggest fear I truly have by all of these troubling developments is that one day, somewhere, sometime in the future there will be a kid in his room searching for that something different, something "New", and there will be nothing left, Left of the dial except the sound of dead air

And this will truly be a sad day...  a day I hope never to see.

The End

  PLEASE CHECK OUT SOME OF THE LINKS AND CHECK THIS STORY OUT... THANKS.

 http://www.savekusf.org/

Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free 

It echoes with the sound of Salesmen

"Spirit of Radio"  Neil Peart

Space

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